Reed Rebukes Trump Admin. for Wasting Millions of Tax Dollars on Fleet of Gaudy, Unwanted ICE Trucks & SUVs

WASHINGTON, DC - The Washington Examiner reports that the Trump Administration wasted millions of taxpayer dollars on a fleet of new, decked-out trucks and SUVs that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are refusing to drive.

The gaudy vehicles feature massive golden ICE logos and red and white racing stripes - a color scheme to match Trump's private jet - and a golden decal of President Donald Trump's name on the back window. Officers in the field say the fleet of marked vehicles could draw unwanted, negative attention to ICE officers.

Government contracting documents detail how the Trump Administration awarded $2.25 million for 25 Chevrolet Tahoe SUVs - about $90,000 per vehicle - to Hendrick Motorsports LLC, owned by Republican mega-donor Joseph Riddick Hendrick III. An additional $174,000 to $230,000 was paid to three companies to wrap the vehicles with ICE branding. While there was no need to purchase these specific vehicles to begin with, DHS compounded its poor choice and bypassed a competitive bidding process, declining to purchase the vehicles through an existing government program. The contract was awarded under a sole-source contract, because of circumstances that political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claimed were an "unusual and compelling urgency."

U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) condemned the wasteful spending and says it is indicative of an out of control agency with callous disregard for taxpayers.

"This is just another example of wasteful ICE spending under the Trump Administration costing American taxpayers and trampling on good government. Emblazoning Trump's name on a bunch of unusable vehicles doesn't make our country safer and the lack of budgetary oversight within the organization is appalling," noted Reed. "Whether it's gaudy, custom-wraps for SUV; purchasing a luxury 737 aircraft dubbed the "Big, Beautiful Jet" by DHS staffers; or hanging 30 foot banners of the president's face on the side of the Department of Justice, political appointees in this administration are competing to pander to Donald Trump, handing out expensive no-compete contracts to donors, and sticking taxpayers with the bill. There is so much wrong with ICE. Throwing out the old political appointees is a start, but this out of control agency still needs to be reined in and reformed."

The then-28 year old political appointee at DHS who was in charge of this debacle quit her post several months ago to run for Congress and her purchase of these vehicles has been widely rebuked by career staff at the agency who said they were not consulted and would never have approved such an unnecessary expense. According to the Washington Examiner, both then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and her special government employee Corey Lewandowski signed off on the purchase order of the marked vehicles. Ms. Noem was recently removed from her cabinet-level DHS duties and given a newly made-up job as 'special envoy' to an organization called the Shield for the Americas.

It is unclear how much the Trump Administration paid for the remaining 2,475 vehicles, what it plans to do with newly wrapped unwanted vehicles, or whether it can cancel signed contracts and halt the custom wrapping of future vehicles.

Reed says the DHS Inspector General's watchdog office should investigate and report to taxpayers and Congress on the full cost of the error and how it is being rectified.

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